Grenade .50 Calibre Pre Workout Devastation Review – The Best On The Market in 2015?

Grenade pre-workout devastation – the crazily named and even more flamboyantly branded supplement could just be the best on the market. We used the ‘Berry Blast’, ‘killa cola’ and ‘lemon raid’ flavours, and got our hands on a bunch of sachets online, handed them out to some trusted gym regulars and let them loose. The result is this Burntech.TV Grenade review.

Grenade nutrition – what is it and what’s in it?

Firstly, what is this Grenade .50 calibre supplement? For the uninitiated, it is part of a family of workout supplements called ‘pre-workouts’. As the name would suggest, they’re intended to amp you up for monstrous training sessions in the weights room. They’re favoured by weight lifters, bodybuilders, strength athletes and powerlifters because of their ability to quickly get you into the zone. They contain a cocktail of ingredients designed to rev you up, keep you going longer and to get you into the zone, enabling you to shift more iron. Many people claim they’re unbeatable in their ability to help you get 1-3 reps more than you thought possible, especially on the ‘big exercises’ (think squats, leg presses, deadlifts, pull-ups, dips, rows and other big compound movements).

This supplements creators are a multi award winning sports nutrition company, famed for using research-validated ingredients. In this instance, the ingredients focus on giving you more energy, supporting the pump (or swelling mechanism that’s indicative of hypertrophy stimulation) as well as anti-catabolic tools, intended to limit the muscle breakdown caused by weight lifting. Lifting weights causes the breakdown of tissue, and its theorised that limiting the breakdown whilst still stimulating helps the muscle grow faster.

Pictured above is the Grenade mixed with 500ml of water. The mixability is generally good, but it can clump a bit. A grinder shaker would help chew through these. Otherwise a solid and quite vicious shake seemed to do the job.

Grenade side effects

This supplement comes packed with a seriously high dosage of caffeine. Caffeine is in many ways a wonder drug. As noted by Paluska in his excellent research study entitled “Caffeine and exercise.” Curr Sports Med Rep 2.4 (2003): 213-9 – caffeine is especially beneficial in short duration (<1 minute) exercise, which of course allies perfectly with a set of exercise. You will push harder and you will get moe reps, but like any drug, caffeine has its downsides.

some athletes may actually experience a decrease in performance, usually due to side effects of caffeine.

dehydration is a potential concern because caffeine is a mild diuretic. Some athletes may also experience abdominal cramps and diarrhea related to the large intestine contractions caused by caffeine. The combination of dehydration and cramping can have particularly detrimental effects on performance.

This goes without saying, and is a major concern with this drug. When we were road testing the Grenade pre-workout in order to execute this review, we bought the sachet packs and distributed 5 workouts worth to some of our gyms regulars. Its important to get a fair test after all.

Of the seven people that we gave a sachet to, three people reported a nasty episode of diarrhea. This is not your usual diarrhea either, but instead a quite explosive kind which kicks in very quickly after eating [for the first time post-workout]. As the research says, this is likely caused by a combination of post workout dehydration and the excessively high dosage of caffeine. For this reason, we thoroughly recommend you adhere to the dosage recommendations.

There are basically two serving suggestions. The first is a half scoop, or a half sachet. This is sold as a beginners dose, with the assumption that you will graduate to a ‘full dose’. I recommend that you don;t, and instead keep to the half sized dose.

In reality, this amps you full of caffeine and other pre-workout goodies, whilst helping to avoid you overloading your system. If you full dose, and you train in the morning, do not expect to be drinking any coffee or other caffeinated drinks all day afterwards – that’s how potent this stuff is. Half dose it, and you can get on with your life afterwards, including coffee. Train in the evening, or even the afternoon – honestly – forget it if you value your sleep. This stuff is too powerful.

Dose moderation is arguably best achieved by buying the sachets vs capsules. The capsule option helps moderate the dosages. Otherwise, the sachets are great for the same reason. I’d avoid the big container, otherwise you may end up with the heavy bodybuilder arm, which encourages overdosing.

Best pre-workout?

We’ve tried a wide range of pre-workout supplements in our time, and I have always found that Grenade works best. Of the ones I have tried, it has the most profound impact on my workouts, and the effects do not ‘wear off’ to the same extent as others on the market. Is it the best preworkout? maybe, maybe not but its certainly right up there.

The main benefits that I have noted from using it are;

Much more focus – when this stuff kicks in you really feel it. Sometimes you even get a tingling skin, and when this happens, you know you’re going to boss this workout

More reps – I definitely get more reps when I use Grenade Vs training without. The caffeine nulls the pain, and the sensory overload pushes you on. If gym results are dependant on training hard, pushing your limits and frankly, having the balls to go hard – then this stuff will help you grow muscle faster and get better results period.

A desire to take on the bigger exercises, verses ‘cop off’ and doing isolation exercises. This stuff drives you in the gym, and you just feel more up for taking on the bigger, harder exercises. When I train without it, compared, I am much more tempted to stop my set a couple of reps earlier and then go and jump on the lat pulldown rather than pull-ups, leg extension verses say hack squats, etc.

Better pump – I have noted a better pump from using it. Slow controlled movements stretch and squeeze, and you literally blow up. This is the best I have seen for this

Better recovery – this may be a false positive, but it does feel like I recover better from the workouts. Whether its because of the anti-catabolic ingredients, or the creatine or whether its just in the mind, it certainly feels like I do.

So there we have it. This supplement can certainly help push your training to the next level. A word of warning though, as with all pre-workouts, the effects of these supplements can be mildly addictive. Use with care and remember to cycle them accordingly.